T2 relaxation time of prostate measured at 5T: preliminary results in healthy adults.

BACKGROUND: T2 relaxation times show potential for reflecting prostate tissue composition and pathology; however, the clinical reference range for T2 values at 5T MRI remains absent. PURPOSE: To establish reference range of prostate T2 relaxation times for healthy Chinese adults at 5T magnetic resonance. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study included a spherical phantom and 43 healthy men of different ages (age range: 21–60 years). The phantom and all participants underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanning with the multi-echo spin-echo sequence at 5T MRI. The phantom was used to evaluate the repeatability of T2 mapping. The peripheral and central zones of the prostate were manually segmented, and T2 relaxation values were obtained for each patient, respectively. The reference range of T2 relaxation time for prostate was given. The correlation of age, prostate volume and T2 values were tested using Spearman’s correlation analysis. RESULTS: The phantom analysis showed multi-echo spin echo sequence-based T2 mapping was stability at test-retest scanning. The median reference values of T2 in the peripheral and central zones of healthy prostate were 88.59 [79.92–95.34] ms and 61.9 [58.95–66.68] ms, respectively. The T2 relaxation time of peripheral zone of the prostate was significantly correlated with age (peripheral zone: r = 0.42, p = 0.0057), while central zone was not (r = -0.23, p = 0.14). CONCLUSION: This study establishes reference ranges for prostate T2 relaxation values at 5T MRI, providing fundamental data to facilitate prostate T2 mapping studies conducted at 5T field strength. The identified age-dependent variations in T2 relaxation values may enable more precise characterization of prostate diseases, potentially enhancing diagnostic accuracy and therapeutic monitoring in clinical applications.